This piece of wood, “Agarwood", is valued so high its said to be pricier than gold. Its whats used to make insence and used in perfumes like Armani Privé’s Oud Royal and Yves Saint Laurent’s M7 Oud Absolu. The earthy scent of this wood gave Hong Kong its name, which, in Cantonese, translates as Fragrant Harbour.

Agarwood was always an expensive wood, and its reaching a point of extinction…pretty interesting how they use this wood. Agarwood is created when the tree itself, which were traditionally planted around villages in hong kong, when the trees are damaged, allowing a mould to attack the timber. When harvested, the infected, dark, resinous wood is pared away from the healthy, scentless, cream-coloured wood.

And it’s this precious resin that has long been sought after. Known as the ‘King of Incense’, agarwood was extensively traded in the Middle East and Asia. Records from China’s Tang and Song Dynasties show it was a highly valued commodity, and its heady scent has historical connections stretching across Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity.

Today, smaller sections of agarwood resin are harvested for incense chips, selling for around HK$58,000 per kilogram in 2014. Larger logs, up to several metres in size, are sold as hand-carved sculptures – one shaped like the base and trunk of a tree in Wing Lee had a HK$1.2 million price tag.

I don’t believe we need any Hugo boss or frangrances. Lets go natural for a while and see how it goes.